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3)"^ SOME 



NOTES ON AMERICA 



TO BE REWRITTEN 



^uggesttb, foit^ |i£Spccl, to 



CHARLES DICKENS, ESQ. 



PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. 



V H I L A D E L P H I A : 
SHE KM AN & CO., P R 1 N T E K f^ 

1868. 



v^^ 



33 (^^ 



4 



P E E F A C E. 



Than the writer, no one more honors and esteems Mr. 
Dickens, and sooner would he that his right hand forgot 
its cunning than indite aught that could convey a shadow 
of oftence to that gifted man. If, therefore, there be in 
this trifle a single line that may be construed unfavorably, 
it will be to the great and lasting regret of the author. 



JCntered, according to Act of Congress, in the 3ear 1868, 
In the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



KOTES ON AMERICA, 



Mr. Dickens in America again ! " Boz" among the Yan- 
kees I He has once more left the green fields of England, 
relinquislied for a time dulce domiun, turned his back for a 
while on London fogs and unwholesome damps, passed 
through all the (Usagremens of an Atlantic voyage, braved 
sea-sickness, and all the little experiences he describes 
in the second chapter of "Notes on America," under the 
head of the " passage out;" all this to come to the land of 
Jeiferson Brick and Colonel Diver. What will they do 
with him ? The question is already answered, is being 
answered now; and the interrogatory is, what have they 
not done ? What have the American peojDle left undone to 
prove that they appreciate genius, honor talent, even 
though it come to them in the person of one who indulged 
in no gentle chidings of their sayings and their doings, 
their follies and their foibles, and pitched into their 
speeches as well as their spittoons? And this, despite the 
angry growlings of a few outer barbarians, jealous, less of 
the good repute of America and Americans, than of the 
reputation of Charles Dickens, and more than all, of Charles 
Dickens, successful author. 



But the American people, the best and wisest, the cul- 
tivated and the refined, felt, that if there were some things 
to be borne in mind which had irritated the flesh as Amer- 
icans, there w^as more, much more, to be remembered, which 
had stirred their hearts as men and women ; that if " Elijah 
Pogram" and "Jefferson Brick" twitted them as a nation, 
" Tom Pinch," " Tiny Tim," " Little Nell," inoved them as 
human beings. Such of them as were parents, felt grateful 
to the man who had opened up such a world of enjoyment 
to their little ones, grateful for the merry laugh that bub- 
bled up, and not the less thankful for the moistened eye 
and swelling heart that indicated their appreciation of 
the characters he drew. 

I think it was Thatrkeray wdio said : he thanked God that 
he lived in an age and in a country when and where, such 
a character as Little Nell was drawn; he felt gratitude to 
the man who drew it, when he saw the delight of his chil- 
dren at its perusal, and watched their alternate tears and 
smiles. 

Heart and hand then has Dickens been welcomed, and 
such a welcome ! ! 

The portly gentleman who called at '• Scrooge's" count- 
ing-house on the eventful eve before that glorious Christ- 
mas morning, could not have been more surprised when 
Scrooge greeted him with a " merry Christmas," than Mr. 
Dickens must have been at his reception. 

Bob Cratchit, it will be remembered, had some idea of 
knocking Scrooge down with a ruler. His pleasantry sur- 
prised and alarmed him, when he, Scrooge, remarked : 
" I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer, 
and, therefore, I am about to raise your salarj^" A ruler 



would have been a" very ineffectual weapon amongst the 
large audiences assembled to hear Mr. Dickens, and all the 
asylums in the States could never have furnished the 
requisite number of strait waistcoats (another of Bob's 
thoughts at the moment), not to mention that the modern 
treatment deprecates their use; but there can be no ques- 
tion that Mr. Dickens must have felt the least bit in the 
world staggered, if not to the extent of rulers and strait 
waistcoats, when this great people rose up like one man 
and gave him such a stupendous welcome; when this peo- 
ple virtually said to him: "Look you, Charles Dickens, ** 
author of Notes on America, and Martin Chuzzlewit, you 
have hit us mighty hard, given us Severn] facers, and with 
ungentle hand administered stripes on the national back, 
but it is all scored off now; you have tickled us and we 
have laughed, while you have touched our hearts hundreds 
and hundreds of times. About that little speculation to 
'pay expenses' (as suggested by Mr. Sam Weller), we 
now can afford to laugh with you over it. Yoic are a man 
of genius; we are a great people, you know it; we can 
afford to welcome you, and we do; so ' CaroV away, 
Charles Dickens." 

And Charles Dickens, before he articulated the words 
announcing the demise of Marley, — " Marley was dead, to 
begin with," — must have felt, '' Yes ! a great and a gener- 
ous people — Ecce sigtium!" 

What thoughts must have crowded on him as he faced 
the audiences of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia? 
What thoughts will continue to press upon him ; what 



materials for another book? And such a change of mate- 
rial ! 

Let us glance at a few of the "Notes," and see if we 
cannot find here and there, some that can be rewritten. 
Here you are again in Broadway, Mr. Dickens. No " pigs " 
there now. As likely to meet even one solitary stroller, 
as in the aristocratic precincts of Hyde Park corner, or 
Belgrave Square, London. If all flesh is pork, as the typi- 
cal Broadway sow reflected in the wanderings and pon- 
derings placed to her account, said pork, is packed away 
from sight, and exported to distant lands, where all flesh 
may be grass, but is not pork. That sow has long since 
gone to the " bourne from whence no traveller returns," 
whether sow, or sinner, transmitting her honors to no 
porcine heirs or heiresses to take their walks abroad and 
revel in the reversion of cabbage-stalks and off'al. No 
pigs, aye, and no beggars; no squalid, shoeless, starving- 
human beings, glad of that very offal which there are no 
pigs to enjoy ; no swine in human form coming between 
the sun and one's enjoyment of it, as we say. " Let us 
cross Broadway." 

"But how quiet the streets are ! Are there no itinerant 
bands, no wind or stringed instruments? No, not one. By 
day are there no Punches, Fantocinis, dancing dogs, jug- 
glers, conjurors, orchestrinas, or even barrel-organs ? No, 
not one." (Dickens Script. Notes on America, New York.) 
None of these, my dear sir? Look again. Barnum ! Tri- 
ton of caterers, Jupiter Tonans of Showmen, "far-sighted 
summoner" of dwarfs and giants, inventor of the Gias- 
cutis Siud the What-is-it? assert yourself. But more than 



this, listen to an Itinerant Exhibiter: "Walk ui?, walk 
up, ladies and gentlemen," walk up, Mr. D., listen to your 
own "Jarley," "Jarley," the pet of crowned heads, the 
favorite of monarchs. Don't you recognize the resem- 
blance to your own creation ? 

Here is a "pig-faced lady," there, the Rijum fungus, "an 
amphibilious animal, ladies and gentlemen (says owr Show- 
man). By amphibilious, my friends, is meant an animal 
that can't live on land, and always dies in the water; walk 
up and judge for yourselves." A little way on, we are 
invited to the African twins, whom, we are informed, " no 
one should fail to see; the anatomical wonder of the age. 
They have been seen and examined by Dr. Mott, Sir Ben- 
jamin Brodie, and all the great physicians. Nothing like 
them in the known world, and the enterprising proprietor, 
who had to go on his bended knees and give a million 
dollars to get them, has made arrangements to prevent a 
repetition of these marvellous freaks of nature. Walk up, 
ladies and gentlemen." Walk up, Mr. Dickens, now or 
never. 

Is not the genus Jarley Avell represented ? 

Barrel-organs in plenty: there goes the "Wearing of 
the green" in discordant rivalry with "Tramp, tramp, the 
boys are marching," and there has just passed a band of 
negro minstrels, followed by the street Arabs of New 
York. Lots of barrel-organs, but no Mr. Babbage* to run 
a crusade against them, as in London. "Quiet streets!" 

* The great calculator, who is always complaining before the 
Police Courts of the "organ nuisance." 



8 



Hark I to that ceaseless roar of omnibuses, the press of pri- 
vate equipages, the thronged streets, the gorgeous dresses, 
the varied colors, all the indicia of a thriving, wealthy, 
populous cit}^, all the signs of progress, and, not wanting 
either, all the vice that grows with the growth of such. 
Are we in Broadway New York, or on a Parisian Boule- 
vard 't 

In the theatrical line, we might make our selection from 
a dozen. All tastes can be gratified, from the romantic 
young lady who dotes on the " Lady of Lyons," to the 
habitue who goes in for nothing under two murders and a 
suicide. 

You will see good acting, Mr. Dickens, and I can prom- 
ise you too, some as execrable stuff as ever drew down the 
applause of the "Gods" in any temple dedicated to the His- 
trionic Muse on the Surrey side of the Thames, if this is 
a sign of progress. You can have " Richelieu," or " Yir- 
ginius," in tragedy ; " Still Waters Eun Deep," or the 
"Love Chase," in comedy, or if thus your tastes incline, 
you can be regaled with the real old heavy style of melo- 
drama, from the Brutal Barons of the Haunted Castle on 
the Rhine, to the Yilhinous Vampire of the Valley; dresses 
and appurtenances all in keeping. 

One little ingredient, however, is wanting, to which we 
are so accustomed at home. In no theatre here does the 
" popular indignation take the form of nuts;" nor are the 
actors regaled with ovations in the shape of orange-peel, 
demonstrations which the reader may remember pursued 
Mr. Wopsle in the inoffensive character of Hamlet, on the 



occasion of Pip's visit to Denmark, as detailed faithfully 
in " Great Expectations." 

Philadelphia, too, can boast a goodly number of thea- 
tres, and all the hoardings and blank walls are resplendent 
with gigantic bills announcing all sorts of entertainment, 
from pitch-and-toss, to dramatic manslaughter. Talking 
of theatres, step here, Charles, friend of my soul, and look 
at this Academy of Music; and there is one in Philadel- 
phia even finer. Not quite beneath praise or notice, are 
they? Not quite, I think. What is your opinion? 

No dearth of amusements 7iow. 

Here we are on the Fifth Avenue. When you have 
taken in all those mansions and regaled your eyes with 
the myriad of beauties tripping along like butterflies in 
the sun, we will drop into Delmonico's. A pretty fair imi- 
tation of the Trois Fr^res Provengaux in the Palais Eoyal, 
is it not ? Aye, even to the fried frogs, fare d la Parisieime, 
and faith, price d la Parisieime, too. 

For hotels, the Fifth Avenue of New York, and the 
Continental of Philadelphia, need not, save in a few par- 
ticulars, turn tail on the "Grand" hotel (sacred to South- 
ern guests) in Paris, or the " Louvre" of more ancient 
date. 

The railway cars remain as you left them. " Long 
shabby omnibuses," there is no denying, they do re- 
semble, more than anything else. All the passengers hud- 
dled together, but comfortably huddled, nevertheless. 

I shall never forget the look of astonishment, not to say 
suspicion, with which the ticket-seller regarded me on the 
ocasion of my first railway journey in America, when, in 

2 



10 



my innocence as to their construction, I asked for a. first- 
class ticket. Had I gone u}3 to the proprietor of a menag- 
erie at feeding-time, and solicited as a particular favor to 
be placed in the cage with the Panthei* or the Bengal 
Tiger, I could hardly have been regarded with greater 
astonishment. I believe he was of opinion that I had 
committed some felony, and was escaping, hence my de- 
sire for exclusiveness. But if they have their objections, 
there are great set-offs to their advantage. No such 
murder as that of Mr. Briggs in an English carriage, can 
jDOssibly be perpetrated in them where there are such 
numbers, and ladies may travel without even so much as 
an insulting look being cast on them. Communication 
with the guard, owing to the construction of these cars, is 
easy, and within reach of every one; a desideratum not 
yet supplied on oiir trains. 

In spite of this, however, our cousins do enjoy a singular 
pre-eminence in raihvay accidents it must be admitted; 
and it does look odd to see a great long train going pell- 
mell through a village, now dashing past a potato stall, 
now making a detour round a confectioner's window close 
enough to enable one to pocket a piece of candy, now 
dodging some perambulators containing young Americas, 
out for an airing, and all as unconcerned, Passengers, 
Perambulators, Villagers, as if it were a water-cart drawn 
by a blind donkey. 

Far from any concern being evinced, some of the servant- 
maids in charge of these perambulators seemed to me to 
regard the trains with an air of mingled defiance and con- 
tempt, as who should say, " If you will make less fuss and 



11 



abate your biuTV, I'll get this out the way and let you 
pass;" while the little things, in their gigantic convey- 
ances, appeared to me to wink to the Engine-driver, and 
only wanted tongue to say, "Go ahead ; don't be alarmed; 
the Locomotive is quite safe." 

" Fires frequent" ? Yes ! But where else is the devour- 
ing element battled with and overcome as here ? 

There's a monster for you, bright as a sovereign fresh 
fi'om Her Majesty's mint, strong as iron and steel in the 
hands of skilful artificers can make it. There, snorting as 
it goes, steaming up as it goes, shrieking lustily as it goes; 
its bright bell ringing out clear, loud, and cheerful, seeming 
to say to the fire, " I am coming, I am coming ! You have 
it all 3^our own way now, but before that second beam 
that is shrinking with fright at your expected embrace 
shall feel you lapping it, I will be upon you, throwing a 
deluge, enough to float another ark." 

Then the fire stations, and the Central office with the 
telegraphic communications to all the former; pay these a 
visit, and a combination of the perfection of skill and 
ingenuity is presented, that have their parallel nowhere in 
the world. 

Take a glance at the police station-houses. See how 
complete the arrangements for the comfort of the men, 
the cleanliness and ventilation of the cells for the pris- 
oners, all lighted and warmed ; the office and apartments 
for the superintending sergeant, the rapidity and prompt- 
ness with Avhich one office communicates with the other, 



12 



the code of telegraphic signals for this purpose. "Note" 
all these. They are worth the noting. 

Now then for the river boats, the steamboats that you 
have reviled and contemned. What coals of fire will be 
heaped on your devoted head when you contrast them with 
those described in -'Notes!" I would invite you to step 
on board that one just leaving the pier; but will you be 
able to see your face reflected in those costly mirrors that 
adorn the gorgeous saloon, summon up courage to tread 
those downy carpets, dispose your limbs to press those 
luxurious spring cushions on that sofa resplendent with 
green and gold, without dire remorse ^ You are human, 
and dare not travel in one of them unconcerned, and I 
pity the agony you will endure. Every stroke of the 
piston will say to you, "Eewrite those notes! Eewrite 
those notes!" 

The chewing and tobacco question next. 

You were pretty rough here, Carlo 3fio ; what I have 
sometimes heard rendered in Transatlantic vernacular, as 
"rocky." You must draw it milder in your next. To 
say that the practice of chewing and expectorating is 
" inseparably mixed up with every meal and morning 
call," is drawing it pretty powerfully on the imagination, 
and is insepcu'ably to mix up your observation with an 
irresistible desire on the part of your reader to exclaim in 
expressive, but unclassic English, ^'gammon'' With the 
former, that is the meals, / have invariably found toma- 
toes, in some form or other (in summer-time at least), 



13 



inseparably mixed up. and, M'ith the few morning calls I 
have made, pleasant conversation, and ver^' nice confec- 
tionery. 

Whether or not legislation and chewing follow one an- 
other as effect and cause. I am not in a position to say. 
never having been in the Senate-House in Washington, 
and for the same reason, I am in blissful ignorance of 
the state of the carpet. It may, as you state, be still 
unsafe to "drop a liandkerchief" thereon, or it may not; 
but I am sure that the practice is much on the decline 
everywhere — certainly so in New York and Philadelphia — 
and I am contirmed in this opinion from the circumstance 
that an enterprising trader advertising the '• Century 
Chewing Tobacco" holds out, as an inducement for in- 
vestment, the chance of the purchaser finding a twenty 
dollar note in the midst of the package containing the 
saliva-inducing leaf This looks like a falling off, I think ; 
so let us eschew the tobacco question. 

As far as the little scenes between honorable members 
go, the inmates of St. Stephen's have of late, yon will 
admit, been making several eft'orts towards imitation in 
this direction, and with tolerable success too. 

Delicate personal allusions do droj) on the ear now and 
then in the Palace at Westminster.* 

Excuse me, but is there not a homely proverb but trite, 
relating to inhabitants of cr^'stal domiciles, recommend- 
ing caution in throwing missiles? Verbxiin sap. You really 
must "^:r" this in your next book. 

By the way, while I think of it, permit me to give you 

* The British Houses of Parliament. 



14 



a friendly hint. It is a little personal, but you will pardon 
it I am sure for the intention. You have referred to Phila- 
delphia in rather a kindly way, but Avith B\y sneers at its 
quietness and Quaker aspect. Now be advised by nie, 
and when you Avalk in its streets don't get yourself up in 
the manner you described your dress and a])pearance, as 
involuntarily assuming on the occasion of 3'our last visit, 
"stiff coat-collar, broad brimmed hat, hair, short cropped 
and stiffened, and hands folded on breast." (See American 
Notes, Philadelphia.) And, above all, if you are so rash 
as to disregard this suggestion, don't go along Walnut 
Street of all others, in that trim. It is full of Doctors, and 
nothing could be more convenient or handy than to pro- 
cure a medical certilicate which would consign you to Dr. 
Kirkbride's Asylum, an Institution from which Hanwell 
and Colney Hatch* may take useful lessons, and which is 
a positive marvel in the way of an asylum for the insane. 

No, sir. Place on your cranium, and it is worth adorning 
too, the latest Paris hat, tit to your nether limbs the tight- 
est of bifurcations, array yourself in a coat like a modern 
dandy, not forgetting a diamond scarf-pin (for Americans 
are perfect Eussians in their love of diamonds), and then 
you may pass safely through the press. If 3'ou do cross 
your hands on your breast, look to 3'our gloves, my friend. 
Every one here is Men gante, more's the pit}', for gloves 
come pretty heavj^ on this side the herring pond. 

But little Quakerly influence (at least so far as dress 
goes) manifests itself in those tidy, jaunt}' Bismarck 
dresses, those puce velvets, those pretty boots with their 

* English Lunatic Asylums. 



15 



high heels, and that light elastic step. Look again, and 
3'ou will say, '■ Indeed we are growing up." 

Aye, and of this growth, here and elsewhere, you will 
write and publish to the world; and the praises you can 
justly bestow on America adolescent, will put out of 
memory the stripes administered in her juvenile daj'S. 
No one can do this better than can you, few as well, cer- 
tainly none from whom praise would come with so good a 



But the best of the joke is, that the " Notes " and " Mar- 
tin Chuzzlewit" are selling more than ever, 

" For those now read who never read before, 
And those who have, now do so all the more.'' 

" Take this," I heard a bookseller say to-day to an in- 
tending purchaser, pointing to "Martin Chuzzlewit:" 
"Take this one; it is where he abuses us most, — it is 
capital fun;" and he laughed as though he would say, 
^'A good joke, is it not? Eather late in the day to be 
angry." Seller and buyer both enjoyed the idea, and the 
book changed hands for the thousandth time that day. 
Resentment, like rocking-chairs, has passed away; to 
many it was unknown. Resentment! Why your books 
fill every window, and are piled up to the roofs. 

In vellum, in morocco, in calf, in boards, in paper, you 
are lying about, and, mirabile dictu, j^our photograph, in all 
imaginary sizes and attitudes, strew the counters. You 
are so much the rage that I expect to see in the store win- 
dows displayed, the Dickens mantle, the Dickens hat, the 
Boz collar. In short, you are, at this moment, to use the 



16 



language of Colonel Diver, '• The most remarkable man 
in the country." 

Please direct your attention to the fact that the G-irard 
College, of Philadelphia, alluded to in "Notes" as a thing 
to be done, has been completed "a long while ago," and is 
an ornament to the city, as well as a monument to the 
catholic sentiment which pervades all Educational Insti- 
tutions of America. Sectarianism here is a dead letter, 
and in this single, this simple, but really great fact, per- 
vading as it does all such charities, lies the secret and the 
source of the prodigious advancement of this country. 

The Press too, the Press that you came down upon, 
tooth and nail, in " Martin Chuzzlewit," have they not 
almost without an exception, behaved generously, aye, 
nobly? Few, if any, casting a stone, where the tempta- 
tion was great. No necessity now to wend one's way 
through the intricacies of narrow streets, as did Martin 
Chuzzlewit and the jolly Mark Tapley, to get to a newspa- 
per office. No red-brick houses with their garish signs 
to indicate them, but stately edifices, not printing offices, 
but printing palaces, proudl}^ fronting and gracing the 
streets in which they are situated. 

No more ^^ New York Sewer s.'' '^ New York Private List- 
ener'' or ^^ Howdy Journal." (See Martin Chuzzlewit.) In 
their stead, hark to names more familiar to Anglican 
ears: "Times," "Herald," "Star," "Bulletin," "Tele- 
graph," "Press," and a legion of others, all teeming with 
gossip, it is true, but not of the affairs of private families; 
gossip from the uttermost ends of the earth, ranging from 



17 

the newest thing in pearl powder and Paris bonnets, to 
the latest edict of the Tycoon of Japan or the most recent 
atrocity of the King of Dahomey, the movements of the 
Abyssinian expedition, the speech of the Queen of Spain 
to the Cortes, what Bismarck said to the North German 
Confederation, Jules Favre's latest declamation in the 
French Chamber of Deputies, the newest vagary of Beales, 
M.A.,* the last debate in the House of Commons on the 
Alabama claims. 

Think of this change, and, instead of a voice saying into 
yours, as it did into Martin's ear, alluding to the " Sewer" 
and the "Rowdy'' — "It is in such enlightened means that 
the bubbling passions of my country finds vent," you will 
say aloud: "It is by such enlightened means that the 
energy and the intellect of this mighty nation is fostered." 
And to the inquiry made by any Colonel Diver (if any 
such still survive) : " How do you like m\' country, sir ? " 
you will reply — but no one can answer as you can and 
will yourself, so we must look for it in your new " Notes." 

The " New Thermopylae" and the " Eden " of the then, 
you will find the flourishing gigantic cities of to-day. No 
need now for a house-agent of the genus "Scadder" to 
pore over a '■'■ bogus" plan with his tooth-pick to find the 
site for a mythical market-place that Martin was to de- 
sign. No, sir; take a ticket from New York, place your- 
self in a railway carriage, and you will be there in the 
course of thirty-six hours at most. You will hardly then 
believe that you have left New York, so little provincial 

* One of the English Eadical sympathizers and a Bright supporter 
of Keform. 

3 



18 



is the aspect of the place. Yet, Sir, you are in the Empo- 
rium of the West. Full of '' architecture'' and Architects too. 

Where a " scant}^ crop of Indian corn was growing 
among the stumps and ashes of burnt trees," (sec Martin 
Chuzzlewit,) there have now grown up edifices of which 
any European city might be proud ; and where ''the fallen 
logs lay hidden in the soil," there now uprears a fine hall, 
in which ^^ou will, before you leave, be listened to by a 
fashionable, intelligent, and appreciative audience. Not 
one Mrs. Homminy to be found amongst them. Not even 
a "red pocket-handkerchief" 

"As by the stroke of an enchanter's wand," cities have 
sprung up, and not like the tenements in a pantomime 
either, as you will admit when you see them. 

On the site of Chuzzlewit's log-hut, prima donnas rouse 
the echoes in cavatinas, cantatas, and all the musical ter- 
minations; and where was then "frowsy underwood and 
rank grass," is ?ioic an Educational Institute, or some such 
establishment, in which it may be, on the evening of this 
very day, a lecture will be delivered " On Charles Dickens 
and his writings." 

Excuse me for quoting you so often, but, looking at 
these things, I think there would be some justice, if not 
elegance, in the symbolical observation of the Colonel, as 
applied to the country, " Sir, we are a young lion." 

Permit me further, as a compatriot, to observe (I quote 
you again), "that here is a spectacle calculated to make 
the British lion" (not put his tail between his legs, as 
suggested by the Colonel), but change his "Notes." 



19 



And, supposing you to represent for a time the dignity 
of Britain's Koyal Felis Leo, well may the " Eagles of 
the great Republic laugh " (the Colonel again), as they 
courteously welcome you, and chaffingly point out the 
" Eden " and the " Thermopylae " of then and 7iow. No 
chance for a Mark Tapley to be "jolly" under difficulties 
here. He would find the fates had determined to make 
even Eden "easy to him;" a calamity which, those ac- 
quainted with Mark, will know, was calculated, in Ms esti- 
mation, to take away all the '^credit'' from being "jolly." 

Well may all the young Eaglets too, be laughing, chaff- 
ing, buying your books, and defying you the while, to be 
otherwise than convinced by the overwhelming argument 
of facts. 

Talking of books. There are some publishing firms that 
even the magnates of Paternoster Row* would regard with 
admiration. Book warehouses as large as cotton store- 
rooms, and showing like some of the gigantic warerooms of 
St. Paul's Churchyard. Witness: Lippincott, of Philadel- 
phia, Appleton, of New York, Ticknor & Fields, of Boston, 
in either of whose establishments may be got any work, 
from the "Tale of a Tub" to the "Talmud;" the alpha to 
the omega of printed matter. 

What an unworked mine, what unexplored depths, what 
veins of virgin ore are ready for you, ready to your hand, 
waiting to take life and form at your bidding, waiting for 

* A street in the city of London almost entirely occupied by pub- 
lishers and booksellers, and amongst them the oldest and most cele- 
brated. 



20 



your master touch to shape, individualize them, and to 
give to the world America, and Americans, as they are. 
Their banks and their boarding-houses, hotels and hospi- 
tals, schools, colleges, and all the life within these, down 
to their bars and brandy smashes. 

May you be spared life and energy to work this new 
field. I am sure you will not disappoint these " Great 
Expectations," but will prove yourself the " Mutual 
Friend" of America and England. 

Out of a mighty and tremendous struggle this nation 
has come out glorious and conquering: the manacles have 
been struck from the slave ; not a star of America's ban- 
ner sheds its ray upon a bondsman, and the " genius of 
universal emancipation" pervades the length and breadth 
of the land. She is marching onward, step for step with 
the foremost nations of the earth, and in the words of one 
of her own orators in the days of her glorious struggle for 
independence, "Who shall say that when the European 
column shall have mouldered into dust, and the night of 
barbarism obscured its very ruins, this mighty continent 
may not emerge from the horizon to rule for a time, sov- 
ereign of the ascendant?" 

The fulness of time will answer this question. Do you 
in the present, write out for "general circulation," some 
fresh " Notes on America." 



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